Faridabad: Â A 14-year-old is fighting for his life in a hospital near Delhi after he set himself on fire in school. The family alleged that he was being harassed by a teacher.
The student was rushed to a local hospital here from where he was referred to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital for treatment.
The boy, a Class 8 student of a private school in Faridabad near Delhi, had taken a bottle filled with petrol to school, said police sources. He poured the petrol on himself in a bathroom after the school assembly and set himself on fire. The CCTV footage from the school showed him going alone into the bathroom, an officer said. Â
The boy had suffered 40% burns, a popular TV channel quoted a source as saying.
A relative of the boy said a teacher often harassed and ridiculed him at school. The boy had mentioned the matter to the police before being admitted to the hospital, he added. The police are yet to record his formal statement.
The family also claimed that he had been depressed since his grandfather died a month ago.Â
The boy, who had lost his father as a child, was very attached to him. In fact, his marks in school had slipped as he had been helping his mother and brother take care of his ailing grandfather for the last six months, the relative said.